


The Truth of History is Oft Forgotten

by AshCatchem



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Actually all cis people are bad writing, Gen, Trans Female Character, Trans Link, Trans Male Character, Trans Zelda, and by done well I mean it’s trans, based on the true ending of botw, genderswap but done well, not the bus service, where she says she could hear the voice of the sword, why do so many genderswaps make the characters cis? It’s just bad writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2020-09-26 20:03:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20395366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshCatchem/pseuds/AshCatchem
Summary: Where maybe the got the wrong princess, and maybe they got the wrong hero, but maybe it will all work out in the end.





	1. The True Story

**Author's Note:**

> So, I recently finished Breath of the Wild (like, five minutes ago) and I noticed that Zelda could hear the voice in the sword and I don’t know much about the other games but usually she can’t? So I figured, hey, what if there was a mix up? So I wrote this fic and it turned into trans link and trans Zelda so,,, yeah. Disclaimer: I only know vaguely of skyward swords ending, so the last paragraph may or may not fit into canon but whatever. Also, this was written in one sitting and entirely unedited so like,,, read at ur own risk

Zelda had known Urbosa as long as she could remember. Urbosa used to be her favourite caretaker, mostly because whenever she went to stay with Urbosa, the Gerudo guards who came with her had put a Gerudo style sword in her hand, and taught her how to fight. Impa, her main caretaker, had done so too of course, but she had only ever taught Zelda the basics on how to protect herself, and never how to fight back. Urbosa, on the other hand, had given her a sharp sword, and told her to attack. Baby Zelda of course, had gone at her with all the rage of that a five year old girl; frustrated with her mother being sick all the time, her father too busy taking care of her mother and not her could muster, which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be quite a bit. When her mother died, she had to spend less time with Urbosa, and more time being a princess, and so the swordfighting lessons eventually petered off, and Zelda has to spend more time wearing dresses, and being called a princess, and doing princess things, which usually consisted of doing her best not to scowl at it all, however, she never forgot the feeling of a sword in her hand.

When Link was small, her mother would sit Link and her younger sister down in front of her and tell them all about how his father had been a great knight, and how she and their father had first met and fell in love. She herself had been a princess, adopted sister to King Dorephan of Zora’s Domain, and they had fallen in love when their father was accompanying the king and queen of Hyrule to a diplomatic mission to Zora’s domain. She had eventually accompanied him back to Hyrule Castle Town so they could get married and start a family, but a year before Aryll was born their father had suffered a grievous injury to the leg and could no longer fulfill his duties, so the family had moved to Zora’s Domain, where Dorephan could take care of his sister, and Link and Aryll could get to know their cousins. Although both Mipha and Sidon were fairly close in age to Link, she had always preferred spending time with Mipha. Sidon always wanted to play knights and heroes with a large group of friends, but Link was a bit shyer than that, and preferred playing dress up and tea parties with Mipha. The two of them soon became best friends, telling each other everything. In fact, Mipha was the only one to whom she had told her secret to - that she would rather be a girl than a boy. Mipha was thrilled at this, because she had always wanted a sister, and a female cousin was the closest thing to that. Link made her promise not to tell, and Mipha promised, on the condition that Link never told anyone who had eaten the last chocolate covered fish. Link agreed, and the two shook on it. When Link was nine, the family moved back to Castle town, and Mipha, who was just as devastated as Link, was the only one who knew the other reason as to why Link Did Not want to go - because her cousin would have preferred to be a princess than a knight. 

When Zelda was fifteen, he found yet another reason why he didn’t want to be a princess - science. The study of ancient Sheikah technology was simply fascinating, and Zelda knew that if they learnt enough, then they could access what had long been considered ancient history. His father didn’t approve, and and constantly lectured him onto trying harder to access the mythical sealing power that had been passed down from princess to princess. Zelda always told him that he had tried as hard as he could, but that had never really been true. He had always hoped that the sealing power had skipped him - because if Zelda could access the sealing power, then that meant he really was a girl, and he had known that he was really a prince for some time now, and he was really didn’t want to be wrong, to be doomed to a life of being a girl, being remembered as a princess after death. Sometimes he found himself picking up a sword and doing some exercises with it, just to pretend that he had been born a boy, and been allowed to train as a knight.

Link had been knighted at seventeen, and for her excellent skills, was sent out to be one of the knights accompanying a research party, looking for any truth to the rumour that Hyrule has begun on the great plateau, near the temple of time. At night, she heard a voice call out to her, and she snuck away from camp to investigate. She found herself at the temple of time, in front of the goddess statue, along with Princess Zelda herself, the triangular birthmark on her hand itching. Princess Zelda looked at her, and then looked away. They both knelt to pray, and Link found herself hearing the voice of the goddess statue, who told her to turn around. She did, and gasped as a sword rose up from the floor. She watched as the princess murmured something to her, and she looked at the princess quizzically. The princess blushed and repeated herself, and Link found a sense of dread sink to the bottom of her stomach, because when her mother had told her stories, she had also mentioned the story of the Triforce, and how it was very likely that the girl she thought was her son was also the hero of legend. Link now realized her mother may have been right, and wished it wasn’t so. She tried to make her face impassive as she stepped forward and pulled the sword. The princess also stepped forward, and Link found that it was much easier to pull it from the pedestal when the princesses hands were wrapped around her own. Later, she talked to Mipha, who mentioned how cool it was that for once, the hero of the Triforce was female.

When Zelda was one hundred years old, he found that being locked in what seemed like eternal battle was much easier when he had a sword in his hands. He had sealed Ganon within the confines of the castle, but he had also sealed himself inside with it, both doomed to never age, to never get the upper hand on each other until the third part of their Triforce came to seal Ganon away until it was time to battle again. Zelda hoped he would get there soon.

When Link was one hundred and twenty, and Zelda and Link had each told each other of their true selves, Link realized that maybe their parents had gotten it wrong. That maybe, Zelda was not the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, and maybe Link was not the hero. That just maybe, the hero of the Triforce was Zelda himself, and Link was the reincarnation of the goddess, and maybe all was right with the world. Link and Zelda, jokingly, recreated the knighting ceremony, except for instead of Zelda knighting her, as they had done previously, she knighted him as her chosen hero, the master sword strapped to Zelda’s back where it belonged, Link finally wearing the dresses she had longed to wear all her life.

Thousands of years previously, the first Link and the first Zelda held the Triforce together, making sure they would always be there to defend the land against evil. The reincarnation of the goddess, and would always be related to royalty, and she would be able to speak to any statue of the goddess Hylia, to prepare her for the role and ask her predecessors for advice. The master sword, while any who were worthy could wield it or draw it from its pedestal, only the true hero, the reincarnation of the first Link, could access its true power, or hear the voice of Fi. The two of them smiled at each other, and knowing that their work was finished for now, and they had the rest of their lives to be together.


	2. Who She Was And Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link re-discovers who she was after losing her memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently I wrote a second chapter, and even though it’s marked complete I may add a third from zeldas pov,,, who knows. But the story itself is complete, and each chapter can be read separately so like,,, enjoy

On Link’s nineteenth birthday, she was fighting on a battlefield, an army of guardians against a handful of Sheikah warriors, Zelda and herself. When Link was nineteen years old, she took a blast from a guardian meant for Zelda, and as she lay dying, hoped that someone from history would learn her true nature, and that she would not be remembered as a man.

When Link was one day old, <strike>she</strike> \- <strike>he </strike><strike></strike>they were woken up by a voice, calling <strike>her</strike> their name inside <strike>her</strike> their head. They walked out of their birthplace, and came upon an old man, who told him that Link was a boy. The word boy didn’t seem to fit <strike>her</strike> him very much, but Link shrugged the feeling off. He had more important things to worry about. Later, the old man would turn out to be a king, telling Link that he was a knight, destined to save Hyrule. Link just wished he got to have a say in this destiny. He doubted he would make a very good knight.

When Link was one week old, he had met more people than just the old man on the plateau, and all of them referred to him as either a man or a boy, so he supposed that’s what he must be. He wished men were allowed to wear skirts. Those looked much more comfortable than trousers. But then he met a girl named Paya and her grandmother Impa, and these worries were thrown back to the recesses of his mind, as he now had hints towards finding his memories, and a more concrete plan towards defeating Ganon.

When Link was a month old, he visited the Gerudo Desert for the first time, and then realized that the past Link, who he had been before, had also visited it, making it the second time at the very least. He shook the thought off, and focused on getting inside Gerudo Town. Eventually he was given a set of clothes belonging to women, and found that not only did they fit him perfectly, they also felt surprisingly... freeing. Link found himself quite enjoying being treated like a women, barring a few overly eager men, who he found a little disturbing, but if that was the price he had to pay to be called vai, to be invited into someone’s home to be taught how to talk to men - he would gladly pay it. His time in Gerudo Town was his favourite part of the quest so far, and he found himself delaying his stay just a touch longer than necessary. He told himself it was worth it.

When Link was three months old he had only one more divine beast to take back. He had not cared as much for Rito Village and Goron City as he had for Gerudo Town (The Goron’s has called him Little Man, and he had never enjoyed that) but he hoped Zora’s domain would be different. Sidon was friendly, but Link found him incredibly unnerving, as there was something familiar about him that Link could not for the life of him figure out, but when he made his way to the throne room, he finally found some of his questions answered, as King Dorephan scooped him up in a hug as soon as Link was within eyesight, and Sidon, glad to finally have a cousin, showed him the statue of Mipha, which triggered a memory, of Mipha offering to try to heal <strike>his</strike> her body so that it would match the fact that Link felt like a woman on the inside. Link finally allowed herself to cry, grieving her memories and who she could have been, as well as rejoicing in the fact that finally she had a reason for the wrongness she felt inside.

When Link was one hundred and nineteen years and six months old, she finally got to shed light on the secret that she had kept all her life, that had forced her into silence. She knighted Zelda as her appointed knight, the ghosts of the champions watching on approvingly, and the new champions grinned at them, and she finally found herself grinning back, glad to be free of the wrong expectations for the first time in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aka  
People: you’re a man Link  
Link: that doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about me to dispute it


	3. One Hundred Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for not updating this in forever, but hey. I’m here now.

When Zelda was sixteen, he started visiting springs of power. There were never any great fairies there, or goddesses to grant him the power his father wanted him to seek. There was just himself, knowing that he would have to access this power, but wishing that the calamity would not rise, that he would not have to prove himself a girl, to prove himself folly, to prove that which he had spent his life desperately wishing to be was nothing but the dreams of a little girl too afraid to fight, and too angry to do nothing.

When Zelda first saw the calamity rise, he knew that they were doomed. He watched his (friend?) guard go down, and wondered if this meant he could be the hero. He wished it was so. He held the master sword, and wished with everything he had that he could wield it against the calamity, for maybe he would have a chance. He slotted it into a pedestal, and tried not to feel like it was his own soul he was leaving behind.

When Zelda marched up to the gates, he felt fear coursing through him and he fought back the urge to fall back and collect the sword for himself. He didn’t want to be alone for however long it would take to return, and the voice inside the sword had always given him such good advice, and been so informative. He wished he could have at least changed out of the dress - it was bound to catch on something. He marched inside, and brandished his own hand out in front of him.

When Zelda had been been holding back the calamity for a month, he picked up a lizal boomerang. It was easier to fight, rather than to shield, he found. The calamity laughed, and called him a little girl, and asked him if he considered himself a hero. He fought the urge to desperately reply that yes, he was, and merely told the calamity that anyone who fought on the side of light should be. The calamity laughed again, and Zelda fought harder.

When Zelda had fought for fifty years, the calamity having given up on trying to poison him with words, he finally spat antidote back at it. He had realized that there was no point hiding from the foe he had been facing for fifty years, and just because history had decided upon their roles a long time ago, it did not mean that there would be no deviations. The calamity laughed at him, called him weak, told him he would lose, but did not call him little girl again. He let warmth flow through his chest, and used that as fuel for another fifty years of fighting.

When Zelda had been fighting for one hundred years, a new presence entered the castle, and finally, finally, finally, finally, the calamity was over. Hyrule was safe. Zelda fell down onto hyrule field, and looked up at the figure, wondering if this meant he had to stop being the hero. The figure called him a girl, and he lashed back, it having been so long since he had been a girl that Zelda found himself forgetting how to be one. The figure laughed, and Zelda found himself laughing too, finally knowing where he truly belonged in history.

When the fight was almost over, Zelda knelt to the ground on the ruins of an old spring, feeling cold metal touch his shoulders, hearing himself vow to protect his rescuer, feeling warmth bloom through his chest once again, and instead of using it to fuel his ferocity, let it be used to fuel his commitment instead.


End file.
